New Delhi: A recent report by the UN Security Council mentioning about Pakistan-based terror groups sending thousands of terrorists to Afghanistan is a reiteration of what Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan publicly "confessed", official sources said on Friday.
In a rebuttal to Pakistan's Foreign Office who had claimed that Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has misrepresented the Eleventh Report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (MT), the MEA said that Pakistan's leadership is on record acknowledging that in the past terrorists used the country's soil to carry out terror attacks on other countries.
Calling Pakistan a "nerve centre" of terrorism, India asked Islamabad to introspect and put end to any kind of support for terrorism.
The UN report said that around 6,500 Pakistani nationals were among foreign terrorists operating in Afghanistan and that Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba are engaged in trafficking fighters into that country.
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In a dramatic admission, Khan, during a visit to the US in July last year, said that about 30,000-40,000 'armed people', who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir, were in Pakistan.
"Instead of casting aspersions on the report, Pakistan should introspect and put an end to any kind of support for terrorism emanating from territories under its control. UN and the international community is well acquainted with the reality that Pakistan is the nerve centre of terrorism," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
After the report was submitted to the UN Security Council, India said the findings vindicated its long standing position that Pakistan remained the epicentre of international terrorism.
Pakistan on Thursday accused India of attempting to mislead the international community on the matter.
"Pakistan houses one of the largest numbers of UN-designated terrorists and terrorist entities. Its fallacious attempts to point fingers at others cannot deflect attention from the facts on the ground," MEA said.
(With inputs from agencies)
